Leidos is seeking a motivated Cyber Software Engineer with strong foundations in offensive cyber and low-level engineering. The role involves contributing to the design, development, and prototyping of advanced cyber capabilities targeting modern computing environments and embedded systems.
Contribute to offensive cyber research initiatives, including vulnerability exploration, capability prototyping, and analysis of modern and embedded systems
Develop and maintain offensive security tools, red-team automation frameworks, and mission-oriented software components
Support reverse engineering tasks across binaries, firmware, and hardware-adjacent systems to understand behavior, identify weaknesses, and inform capability development
Assist in designing and evaluating evasion-resistant payloads, covert communication mechanisms, and persistence techniques for realistic adversary simulation
Prototype automation and AI-driven approaches for reconnaissance, decision-making, and red-team workflow acceleration
Analyze adversarial tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) to support realistic threat emulation and capability design
Collaborate with other engineers, hardware researchers, and mission teams to integrate software, embedded, and AI-driven components into cohesive research prototypes
Document research findings, prototype behavior, and operational concepts for technical and operational audiences
Participate in internal red-team exercises, capability evaluations, and iterative testing cycles to refine tools and methodologies
Stay current with emerging offensive techniques, hardware-assisted attack vectors, and adversarial AI research trends
Qualification
Required
Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Cybersecurity, or related field. Degree must be completed by start date
Strong programming experience in C/C++ and Python, with demonstrated ability to build offensive tooling or low‑level software
Experience with reverse engineering fundamentals, including firmware analysis, hardware interfaces, or binary inspection
Hands‑on experience with red‑team operations, penetration testing, or adversary simulation
Familiarity with embedded systems, microcontrollers, or FPGA‑based development
Understanding of networking fundamentals, security vulnerabilities, and common attack techniques
Ability to communicate technical concepts clearly in both written and verbal formats
Demonstrated initiative through research projects, open‑source contributions, or published work
US citizenship is required
Ability to obtain and maintain a Top Secret/SCI with Polygraph clearance
Preferred
Active TS/SCI security clearance with Polygraph
Experience developing or modifying offensive security tools
Familiarity with EDR evasion concepts, covert communications, or payload staging
Experience with hardware security research, side‑channel analysis, or hardware Trojan detection
Background in AI/ML applied to cybersecurity (e.g., neural architecture search, AI‑assisted detection, agentic tooling)
Exposure to reverse engineering tools such as Ghidra, Binary Ninja, or IDA Pro
Experience with embedded debugging interfaces (JTAG, UART, SPI) or firmware modification
Contributions to security research communities, publications, or open‑source offensive tooling
Familiarity with cloud environments, containerization, or DevOps workflows
Benefits
Leidos is an industry and technology leader serving government and commercial customers with smarter, more efficient digital and mission innovations.
Glassdoor
3.9
Founded in 1969
Reston, Virginia, USA
10001+ employees
https://www.leidos.com
Leidos is an industry and technology leader serving government and commercial customers with smarter, more efficient digital and mission innovations.
